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2 Killed and 2 Wounded in Mall Robbery

This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996.
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Two people were killed and two others were critically wounded yesterday as gunfire from a botched robbery rang through a shopping mall in southern New Jersey, sending shoppers and their children scurrying for cover.

The shootout, between an armored-car guard and a robber, left the bandit and a 17-year-old youth dead, the authorities said. The guard and a teen-age girl were critically wounded.

Hours after the shooting at the Deptford Mall, about 10 miles south of Camden in Gloucester County, the authorities said at least two other robbers were being sought. The police recovered a maroon Honda on a road next to the mall and found a weapon inside the car.

The Gloucester County Prosecutor, Harris Y. Cotton, said at least one of the men still at large had escaped in the vehicle. Mr. Cotton said the car, with a New York license plate, had been stolen July 22 from Cherry Hill, N.J.

A number of shoppers, still dazed from the echoes of the gun battle and the sight of people running for safety with children in tow, told of seeing a man running toward an exit, firing a handgun into the air, after the initial shootout.

The shooting erupted around 3:30 P.M., said Linda Vizi, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's office in Philadelphia. She said the guard, Rudolph Matlack, 21, of Williamstown, N.J., had just picked up money at a bank in the mall and was returning to the armored car, owned by the Brooks Armored Car Service of Wilmington, Del. It was parked outside, next to a freight-loading area and in plain view.

Ms. Vizi said the guard was in a large hallway near the main mall entrance when he encountered the gunman. ''We don't know who fired the first shot or what was said,'' Ms. Vizi said.

The two exchanged shots, hitting each other. A bullet believed to have been fired by the robber also struck and killed Nicholas Morris, 17, of Clayton, N.J., who was going to the bank to cash a check when he was caught in the crossfire, the authorities said last night.

''Everybody started running,'' said Michael Orsino of Franklinville, who was standing at an ice cream counter on the lower level when he saw a crowd of people scrambling for the exits. The crowd in flight soon included Mr. Orsino, his wife and their son, who is 5.

The wounded guard managed to crawl to the bank and tell people inside to call for help. The gunman, meanwhile, stumbled farther into the mall's common area, falling dead at the foot of a kiosk. The authorities still had not identified him late last night.

Ms. Vizi said several shoppers told of seeing the dead gunman's confederate race down a flight of stairs to another busy shopping level, firing his weapon in the air, then going out a lower entrance and fleeing in a red car. Maureen Lavin, 15, of Swedesboro, N.J., was going up the steps from the lower level when she was struck in the head, possibly by a ricochet, the authorities said. They said they did not know which gun the bullet came from.

''I heard what sounded like firecrackers,'' said Peter Frantzen, who manages a clothing shop across the street and had gone into the mall to buy a basketball.

''We didn't think it was real,'' said Judy DiCarlo, of Woodbury. She had been in a jewelry store with her four children, she said, when she heard screaming and saw people flee.

Officials at Cooper Hospital-Medical Center in nearby Camden, where Mr. Matlack and Miss Lavin were taken by helicopter, said they were in critical condition after surgery.

As for the wounded guard who crawled to the bank to get help, Ms. Vizi said, ''People do incredible things.''

The Deptford Township police questioned two men shortly after the shooting, but Ms. Vizi said they had not been charged in connection with the robbery. She and other investigators said witnesses had provided several leads.

By early evening, special units from the Deptford, Gloucester County and New Jersey State Police, along with F.B.I. agents, were checking the mall for other injured people and, just possibly, other robbers.

Deptford is a well-to-do suburb some 20 minutes' drive from Philadelphia. The mall is Gloucester County's main shopping attraction.

''I won't let my daughter go hang out in the mall,'' said Denise Royal of Deptford, cradling her young daughter a few hours after the bloodshed. ''That could have been one of our kids. It could have been us.''

A version of this article appears in print on August 6, 1996, on Page B00002 of the National edition with the headline: 2 Killed and 2 Wounded in Mall Robbery. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe